


Two Sides of the Same Coin

by Hand_held_monster



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Death, Language, PTSD, Panic Attack, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-08
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-12 13:17:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5667445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hand_held_monster/pseuds/Hand_held_monster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Greyby enjoyed staying at his quaint diner, he was always there ever since the war.  After he had encountered a particularly strange fire elemental, whose appearance could be deceiving, tried to go about his normal business.  What he didn't expect is that the man had a certain interest in him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Sides of the Same Coin

**Author's Note:**

> These characters are both OC's, more specifically, spin off Grillbies. I (@hand-held-monster) am the creator for Roseby, @pkmtrainerbenny, is the creator of Greyby. Both are regularly a part of our tumblrs, so if you wish to check them out, you know where to find us.

It was a calm day at the diner, Grey just went through his normal routine, watching the patrons, occasionally serving, and mostly enjoying the peace.  The chatter filled the air like normal, the dull noise a welcome guest to Grey.  He had closed his eyes for a moment in peace, but quickly looked over as he realized that the room had grown deathly quiet.

Looking over he saw a pink fire elemental, devilish smile spread across their face.  Grey remembered him, Roseby if his memory served him right, and the guy had no reserve for personal space.  After the encounter with him, Grey had been forced to go through several of his calming practices to level himself.  It wasn’t just that the guy had touched him either, something about him felt off.  Unreal.

Roseby stood at the door and looked around giving a small laugh, “Calm down, I’m not important enough to stop whatever you all were doing.”

Most patrons looked away again, a few groups going back to their conversations.  Roseby walked toward the bar, and behind him a handful of patrons left in a hurry.  Grey noticed, making a mental note to ask what about this guy had them so unsettled, even if he already sympathized with the action.

Roseby found a stool just before Grey, he leaned onto the counter, “Well, nice place you got here.”

Grey didn’t answer immediately, he was worried about what to say and what the guy would do next, “Yeah.”

Roseby glanced away from him, his tone playful, “Now, now.  No need to be defensive, I just wanted to find a place to take a break.”

Grey didn’t like the situation, Roseby’s body language was way to relaxed, and the way everyone else had reacted had put Grey on edge.  A part of him wanted to kick him out, but Roseby hadn’t actually done anything, and no one spoke out against him, so to remove him would not be a good idea.  Grey just went about his tasks almost trying to avoid the fire monster.  Grey succeeded for a while, but eventually Roseby called him out when he was behind the counter again.

Roseby gave a smirk, “I wanted to ask, just a rumor I heard going around, but were you in the war?”

Grey stiffened, it was something that the few people who did know, he had asked to stay quiet, so how could word be spreading about it, “That’s a pretty personal question.”

Roseby shrugged, “Sorry, I just felt like we had things in common, that would certainly be one.”

Grey couldn’t help that he was intrigued by his words, he knew other elementals, especially fire ones, had taken a large role in the war, “So you’re asking because you're a veteran?”

Roseby chuckled and leaned onto the counter, “Well of course, that wouldn’t be very nice of me to ask without a good reason.”  He paused before pointing to Grey’s cane, “I’m guessing that has to do with it too.”

Grey was hesitant, but was feeling a bit more open, maybe he was just a strong soldier, and had been outcast.  It wouldn’t be the first story of such Grey had heard, “Yeah, some nasty stuff happened, I don’t really feel like talking about it.”

Roseby nodded moving away again, “Fair enough, not everything that happened is for public conversation anyway.”

Grey nodded a few memories ran through his head, none pleasant.  When he looked back up Roseby had raised himself from the stool, Grey was a bit confused, “Leaving already then?”

Roseby chuckled, “What, will you be lonely without me?  Nah, you have a lot of people in here for that, besides, I have a feeling we’ll see each other again soon.”  He walked away and waved behind him as he left.

Grey had been wary at the encounter, but was a bit more eased by the end.  Roseby didn’t seem that bad, though he would still be cautious of him.  Even if he was possibly misunderstood, some of the patrons were worried enough to leave.  Grey would ask them what their reasons were tomorrow, they always showed up around late morning, so it would be easy to catch them.

The rest of the night was smooth, and Grey said his goodbyes as the last few people left.  He stepped outside and locked the door to the diner before turning and jumping.

Roseby looked surprised back at him, “Woah now, don’t put yourself out, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Grey took a steadying breath before answering, “What are you doing here, the diner is closed.”

Roseby gave a half laugh looking away, “Don’t think so highly of yourself, I was walking home, it just happened to be along this way.”

Grey was about to laugh it off, but froze as he realized something, “Wait.  That can’t be true, this is the first time I’ve seen you here, and I close at the same time each day.”

Roseby opened his mouth, but shook his head, a joyful sneer on his face, “You know what, the lies ain’t worth it this time, let's just get to the point.”

Grey stepped back, ready to fight back if he had to, “And what point may that be?”

Roseby’s smile grew, “Take a guess.”

Grey brought up his left hand to swing the cane, but felt a hand on his wrist immediately, his vision filled with bright pink colors, and a hard pressure met his face before blackness.

 

_____________________________

 

His head pounded, and it took a good while for his vision to clear.  He looked around to see a small almost empty room, a single table and door, the rest solid rock.  He looked toward some light, which was the only light beside his own, and realized the color.  Pink.  He jumped a bit feeling panic when he felt the restraints on his wrists and ankles.

A small chuckle came from by the table, “Oh, your awake, I was wondering how long you would be out.  You seemed like a tough one, but I was starting to worry about your state.”

Grey snarled, “What is this?”

Rose calmly removed his jacket and laid it on the table nothing else on it could be seen, he proceeded to roll up the sleeves to his dress shirt, “Now don’t try to move to much, I don’t want to tighten the restraints.”

It didn’t answer the question, but Grey took a closer look at the restraints.  He was surprised to find that they were a bit loose after all.  He slowly began to twist his wrist, and moved his hand inward on the tie.  He yelped when a hand violently came down and created a vice on his arm.

“I don’t like to repeat myself.”  Roseby’s voice was low, so low that if any other noise was present Grey might have missed the words.  The gripped removed itself and Grey felt himself shaking, the contact was already bringing him to an attack.  He took slow contemplated breaths, closing his eyes to level himself again.

“Oh, good.  I was worried I would have to calm you myself, but this is far better.”  Grey looked up and pushed himself into the hard wood of the chair as a gleaming blade was in his face.

Roseby smirked, “Calm down, this is nothing to special.  I’m guessing the humans did far worse to you.”

Grey glared at him, “What?”

Rose leaned over the chair, his face inches from Grey’s, “I mean the torture they did.  What else.  I know human torture very well.”

Grey was feeling defiant and gave a sharp headbutt to the man before him who recoiled grabbing his head, “You were tortured too?”

Roseby’s expression had grown dark as he looked down at his prisoner, “No.”  His demonic grin returned as he brought the blade to Grey’s abdomen, “I used those techniques as well.”

Grey screamed out as the blade punctured his stomach, the blade stung, but from memory he froze, knowing that moving would only make it worse.  His thought were broken as the blade was violently removed again.  Grey leaned over, grunting at the pain racking his mind and body.

Roseby laughed, the mirth exuded from him, “Perfect.  Finally, I found someone worth the time.”

Grey snarled at Roseby as he tried to overcome the waves of agony hitting him, “I’m gonna make you regret that.”

Roseby leaned forward again, “Please do.  It’s your will to live that is keeping you here right now.”

Grey was trying to think of a way out, he needed time so he had to bite at the bait that the elemental was throwing at him, “What is that supposed to mean?”

Roseby stepped away, and back over to the table, placing down the blade and examined whatever couldn’t be seen, “You’re not the first to be in that chair, I’m surprised you didn’t figure out that much.”  He shrugged to himself, “Or maybe you just didn’t say anything, but I digress.”

Grey managed to slip his wrist out of the binding and moved over to the others quickly while Roseby’s back was turned.

The pink fire monster continued their rant, “Most seem to die rather quickly, even a small wound proving fatal to them.  It’s very unlike humans, they can lose the will to live and still stay alive for quite awhile.  I only ever lost one human on their volition, and it was that they managed to force my blade into their throat.  I was still quite new to the art, so it was no surprise I made such an error.”

Grey had both his hands out and was trying to keep his hands steady as he moved to his ankles.  It took all of his will not to cry out as his abdomen screamed at him to stop moving.

Roseby lifted a few items, putting them down again with a shake of his head, “My last victim, gave me some insight on some better options.  He didn’t last much longer than the others, but he did spill information like a watergate once the pain started.  He was clearly desperate for it to stop.  That’s actually how I heard about your history, they talked on and on about you, and how you would avenge them.  That doesn’t seem to be the case though now does it.”

Grey smiled to himself, he would do it.  This bastard was gonna pay, and he may not like to fight, but after what he had seen, the guy was clearly more demon than monster.  He removed the last of the restraints and breathed once before jumping at Roseby.

Roseby heard him move and quickly turned, Grey managed to shove him into the wall.  Grey moved over to continue the attack, but his leg and stomach made him far slower than he needed to be.  As Grey stepped forward, Roseby brought his fist up and directly to the fresh wound.

Grey cried out and fell to the floor in a heap, his body screamed at him and he felt the signs of shock begin to hit him.  Rose grabbed his throat, and Grey felt like he was going to go manic from the situation, his brain couldn’t process the events that were unfolding fast enough to have a proper response.  His mind faded in and out for awhile, until he became aware of himself enough to focus on his breath.  In and out.  In and out.

His wrist and ankles were crying out, but not the slightest movement could be made.  Grey hissed as the pain began to build.

“I told you not to move.”  Roseby was growling the words, a metal hammer in his hand, “Now look at yourself.  I was trying to be reasonable, and now you’ve pissed me off.”  He swung the hammer down, hitting Greys left thigh just above the knee.  His screams were deafening, drowning out the sound the wound made.

Roseby stepped back again, “This is just the beginning, now you are gonna stay here, and think of what you did.”

Roseby slammed the door behind him.  Grey didn’t want to break, not when so long ago he had proven that he was stronger than the simple tools that the humans had used.  He began to sob, small cries left him when the pain spiked.  He kept telling himself he had to pull together if he was gonna get away, but he was already a broken man, not just from the events that just occurred, but the past as well.  The idea that one of his own kind would do these things to him was almost unbearable.

There was no telling how long he sat in that room alone, easily long enough for him to collect himself again and try to plan another way out.  But he didn’t even know where he was, so there was no telling if he had any real hope of escape.  During the war, you could always use the stars to find your way to safety, but that was nonexistent here.

The door swung open and blazing pink fire entered.  Grey braced, he knew that it would continue, so he had to find a way to steel himself.  Roseby closed the door, a bucket in hand, and moved over to the table.

Even with those thoughts though, he was still questioning the ‘why’ of the situation.  The man had said that he knew his past from someone else he had tortured.  So did he have information that Roseby wanted?  Was there someone he knew and was close to that he was trying to get to?

“You look deep in thought, do you want to share?”  Roseby looked smug as he worked with his tools.

Grey didn’t want to talk so willingly, but went for it anyway, “What’s the point of this?”  He cringed a bit when he heard his voice, so hoarse and worn from the screaming.

Roseby shrugged, “This is what I do.”

Grey tried to piece together what he heard, “So what, you’re getting paid for this?”

Roseby chuckled and turned back to the gray and dimmed elemental, “No.  I just enjoy it.  I have ever since I started in the war, but like I said, monsters don’t last quite as long as humans, so I am always looking for more resilient individuals.”

It was then that Grey noticed that Rose was wearing long slick gloves and had a thin and sharp rod.  Roseby carefully lowered the rod into the bucket at his feet and moved up.  The metal gleamed with a wetness, and was pushed flat against Grey’s face.  He hissed violently leaning away as a sizzling was heard.  Grey would ask why he would risk water when it could do the same to him, but he had already determined that the monster was insane.

Roseby just quietly continued, re-dipping the rod and placing in on new spots on Grey’s skin, even moving to dampen his shirt, causing a constant pain to Grey.  Grey slowly began to steel himself to the pain, and as a response, Roseby switched to the pointed end of the rod, making small holes in the skin with the water seeping into the wounds.  It caused a whole new wave of cries to leave him each and every time it happened.

Roseby eventually stepped away and set the tools down, removing the gloves as well.  Grey barely gasped out breaths, his body so wracked and broken, he couldn’t do anything to stop the agony running through him.  He didn’t want it to keep up.  He closed his eyes searching for something in him to push him to fight on, but was finding nothing.

A slow clapping was heard and Grey scowled at the source.  Roseby was smiling down at him, “Well done, by this point you’ve outlived some humans I’ve worked with.  And for that I think I’ll reward you with something.”  He lifted a sleek blade from the table, calmly walking forward, “I’ve grown a bit bored of this, so I’ll let you go now.”

Grey spat in his face, causing Roseby to flinch, but nothing more.  Roseby pulled back his arm before lodging the blade deep into Grey chest, with the small amount of energy let, Grey gasped.  Roseby chuckled softly, “It’s been fun though, you enjoy whatever awaits you.”

Grey smiled softly up at him, voice broken, but still audible, “Can I keep that, or are you gonna want that back?”

He dimmed and turned to dust, Roseby gave a half laugh, “You really were a fighter, even in the face of death.”  Roseby collected his things and cleaned off the dust before grabbing his jacket and leaving the room.


End file.
